It appears as our IT department is moving forward with MOSS 2007 and are
building collaboration sites. Luckily they are thinking ahead to those
shared spaces eventually creating company records and have asked me to
help them define appropriate content types with an eye on applying
retention to them. IT has looked at our Retention Schedule but is having
some difficulty applying it to their SharePoint structure -- I don't
blame them because I have some difficulty applying it to our paper
records, so I am working on aligning it better with what folks actually
do everyday ... it's just not there yet.
 
As we really only do one thing -- build houses -- and the vast majority
of our records can realistically be grouped into "community records," I
am trying to move more toward the big-bucket approach with the retention
schedule. I see the content types as possibly being a way to put more
detail back into the bucket. e.g. Sure all "community records" are kept
for x-number of years, but exactly what is a particular record ... a
contract, a warranty item, an escrow item, etc. In my research, I came
across one reference to a company wanting to be able to have 300+
content types. I can't imagine that being manageable -- what employee is
really going to peruse a list of 300 items to chose which one they
need?!
 
So my question is ... how have others defined content types in their RIM
systems. How are they used? What should I keep in mind when I start my
list? Where is the tipping points between too few, enough and too many?
Is my thought process totally screwed up and I have it all wrong -- are
content types synonymous with record series?
 
Nolene
 
Nolene Sherman | Director of Records Management | Standard Pacific Homes
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